More than 20 Russian banks have begun testing the beta version of the Unified Biometrics System by Rostelecom.

The company has informed via official website that the system was developed at the request of Russia’s Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications and Central Bank and now it is ready for integration into the banks’ data systems.

The Unified Biometrics System uses two parameters for identification: voice profile and a photo, which allows a drastic increase of the accuracy of recognition.

The system has defense mechanisms that deny authentication in case of a low match score against the original biometric data stored in the unified system. The digital platform is located in the secure cloud infrastructure of Rostelecom, which banks can access via special communication channel. Rostelecom is developing a mobile app for that purpose.

The Unified Biometrics System will be launched for commercial operation on July 1, 2018. The Central Bank of Russia will make the full list of the banks that will use the unified system.

In future, the system can be applied in other fields as well: healthcare, education, retail, e-commerce, etc.

“Rostelecom started working on the Unified Biometrics System six months ago, when the regulations hindering development of biometrics were surmounted: Russia adopted amendments to the law, which allowed using the technologies of biometric identification during legally significant actions. In parallel, Rostelecom was selecting optimal software solutions and equipment vendors and negotiating with the banks that will be the first to test the system and accept the biometric data of their clients. These efforts resulted in the beta version of the system, the technologies that will be used to take off biometric data and user verification in July 2018, when the system is to be launched for commercial operation,” noted Rostelecom Vice President for Business Development Alexander Ayvazov.

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